Village Health Worker Course - Gearing Up

For the last few weeks I've been helping prepare Korvan (the PCV's health school) to run the Village Health Worker training course for the Ministry of Health. 

The course trains volunteers from all over the country in basic medical knowledge and primary health care, so they can go back to their communities and provide some health education and minor treatment where there are no other medical facilities. It has the potential to make a big difference in the lives of many people. It covers not only first aid, but sanitation, healthy food, personal hygiene and much more. I wish everyone in Vanuatu could do this course! If Korvan do a good job of running this course, it is highly likely there will be many more to follow. Korvan has run the course in past years, but then Save the Children ran it for several years. The course content has recently been updated and is very comprehensive.

The classroom and offices are on the ground floor with accommodation upstairs.

Lolona (Lulu) from Madagascar has been helping me prepare activity cards for the students to use in class. We met through International Christian Church. She wants to improve her English and I want to improve my French, so much of our conversation is repeated in one language or the other.

4 of the hard workers - me, Judy (the very experienced nurse trainer for the course), Nicola Young and Lulu.

There are 35 students, so 35 folders to be prepared with dividers and initial information.

Nicola and Judy in the office at the back of the classroom, with timetables and orientation info on the wall, also the printer bought specially for the course.

Some equipment we already have, some will need to be borrowed from the School of Nursing.

Lots of the equipment has been stored for quite a while so it needed a good sort out.

The room where it was all stored was long overdue for a clean-up! Here are a couple of before and after shots (hope you can spot the difference!)

Elder Jara is the school administrator and has been doing the lion's share of organising the logistics - airfares, transport, accommodation requirements, catering etc. Here he and Nicola are reading the instructions on a borer bomb to put in the equipment store room.

Upstairs, Rose (Pastor Colin's wife) and Elder Cyrilline are getting the extra mattresses ready - Korvan usually sleeps 20 but we have 30 women and 5 men coming, so several ladies will have to sleep in the prayer room. The 5 men will be next door in Sutherland House.

Here is one of the regular bedrooms with an extra mattress.

Now we are all set for the course to start on Monday with Orientation Day and an Opening Ceremony. Classes start on Tuesday. One thing we could really use is some large plastic boxes for storing equipment and paperwork so if anyone feels moved to help please send your donation to Phil King at Global Missions, PCANZ. Email phil@presbyterian.org.nz